Saturday, August 25, 2012

Victimhood Justifies Violence

Note: This is a long but
non-linear post of multiple parts. Each part is connected but can also be read separately.

Blame
is lame

Some of the Twitter accounts that the GOI wants blocked: KanchanGupta
(26025), SanghPariwar (16438), ShivAroor (6694), Barbarindian (5631), AnilKohli54
(2818), Scamsutra (2605), Dosabandit (1552), DrPravinTogadia (1430). The number
after each account is the follower count at 11.30am IST on August 24. After
using mathematical Multiple-Angles Identity formulae I have arrived at the
conclusion that all of these handles are Hindus. I follow 2 of these accounts. Not
exactly clear what their offence is but the general terms being used are “spreading-hate” and “hate-speech” following the clashes in Gogoiland or the “peaceful meeting” at
Azad Maidan on August 11. How and who arrived at this list of accounts to be
blocked? But let’s leave that for later. That done, TV debates don’t spare a
second to further tar and malign social media as being part evil and whether
censorship is justified. That the news media even debates whether any form of censorship
is justified reveals the sewer they’re clogged in.

Now, you can compare those ‘block’ Twitter accounts with those of media
celebs like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose and also-ran sidekicks like Ashutosh and Nikhil Wagle.
You will find the celebs and their sidekicks have a far higher follower count
than the ones to be blocked with the exception of KanchanGupta in one or two
cases. The follower count is only to indicate the reach and influence of an
account and not a comment on popularity or tweets. So far there isn’t a shred
of evidence social media caused hate, violence or the NE exodus. None
whatsoever!"Stick the convict's badge" first and then worry about evidence.

News
Media induces fear, anger and disgust.

The theory and scientific study of TV provoking anger and rage has been
on since the early 70s. The constant shrill scream of “Breaking news” even
after it has become a farce, constant hysterical screaming of reporters and
anchors, constant dividing of the nation through manipulated debates do take a
toll. It provokes fear, anger, rage and disgust. And every time there are
images or texts, real and imaginary, that provoke Muslims into violence our
media simply discusses their “Victimhood”. It’s almost like Jim Carrey in ‘LiarLiar’ telling the serial-adultery
woman that she’s actually a “victim” and wins her a huge monetary settlement. That’s
how Sagarika Ghose ‘positioned’ it (Term borrowed from Justice Arnab) and, of
course, given her histrionics Barkha Dutt frequently comes up with Spielberg’s “Minority Report” as title for this
victimhood nonsense. (Irony, since most of her panelists on such topics are usually from the Muslim community).

In a research document “TV news images that induce anger, fear, and disgust..” here’s what an abstract
says: “An experiment tested memory and approach‐avoidance ratings for television
news images that induce anger, fear, and disgust. Participants rated the ¡mages by moving a computer paddle toward or away from the
screen during the stimulus presentation. Anger images received the rating
closest to the screen, followed by images inducing fear, and images inducing
disgust. Images that induce anger were found to be the most memorable on a latency‐to‐response
measure, followed by images that induce fear, and images that induce disgust.
Both retroactive and proactive memory effects were detected..”

Psychotic
Victimhood.

The term PTSD (Post Trauma
Stress Disorder) wasn’t coined until 1979. It mainly reflected the mental
condition of Vietnam veterans of the US Army. Their sense of isolation and
victimhood has have been portrayed in many movies. Psychiatrists who arrived at
this disorder analysed many behavioural patterns. One of the characters they
analysed was the extraordinary psychotic character Travis Bickle. Watch this little clip from the Martin Scorsese‘s cult movie Taxi
Driver (1.12 mins)

That is as disgusting as TV media can get! Even if you haven’t watched the
movie you can predict how it would have ended – in a bloodbath. Isolated,
secluded, obsessed, victimhood, psychotic - all of that describes Travis
Bickle. Taxi Driver influenced the real-life assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley. Blame Martin Scorsese or Robert De Niro?

Then there was this guy called Mark Chapman. Among many stories, Chapman wasn’t happy with the way “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger ended. On December 8,
1980 he pumped 5 bullets into John Lennon, who’s often credited with creating
modern day pop music, and kills him. Blame J.D. Salinger or his book? This is
the same stupid logic that GOI has used in a mindless spree of blocking
websites and Twitter accounts. Pathetic! Only
psychotics and retards claim texts, images and videos being sufficient to
provoke violent acts.

A short
series of victimhood and violence.

Victimhood justifies violence? Let’s go through a series of events that
have sparked violence in the name of religion:

1985: The Calcutta petition refers to a case which was directed at
the very core of Islam – The Quran. Sri Chandmal Chopra and a few more filed an
application in the Calcutta High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India on 29 March, 1985 to declare each copy of the Quran, whether in the
original Arabic or in its translation in any of the languages, as forfeited to
the government claiming the Quran incites violence and religious disharmony. Both
the state and central govts were rattled. Predictably there was violence.

1986: The DeccanHerald printed
an article ''Mohammad the idiot'' (Absolutely no reference to the Prophet as
even ShashiTharoor confirms).
The story concerned a handicapped youth named Mohammad, but the Moslems, who
make up 10 percent of the city's population, asserted that a reference to him
as ''a deaf and dumb prophet'' was an insult to their religion. Result? 4
killed and 50 injured in violence. Oh, just in case you thought Muslims were
hurt, the article also had a character called “Sita” as a prostitute. No, Hindus didn’t go out and kill people
or damage property. (See box from Desicritics).

2009: In February The
Statesman in Kolkatta reprinted an article from The Independent titled "Why should I respect oppressive
religions?" The Muslims felt hurt again and once again there was violence
and blockade of the newspaper’s office. The editor and publisher of the
newspaper were also arrested. Victimhood? Result, more violence.

2010: And then you can carry
on with the article of Taslima Nasreen (March 2010) which angered Muslims.
Result? Two persons were killed and over two dozen injured after violence broke
out in three districts of Karnataka during rallies taken out to protest an
article containing remarks against certain Islamic practices published in a
vernacular daily on Monday. (HindustanTrolls).

Media
perpetuates the lie of victimhood

The cases of images or texts resulting in violence can go on and on.
And still our media continues to play the “victimhood”
card. So on August 22 the Social Genius on CNN-IBN had another discussion on
the topic: “Do Muslims continue to suffer from a sense of victimhood?” Ah well, even if they try to get
over it our stupid media morons will never let them get past it just like our
politicians. The real question, if there were any honesty left in media, should
have been: “Should a sense of victimhood
justify violence?” The only panellist to accurately analyse this
“victimhood” syndrome was Swapan
Dasgupta. He described the three different types of Muslim victimhood
syndrome:

Material victimhood: This
relates to their economic conditions and getting a share in India’s growth as
an economic power. I agree, Muslims should get their share of progress and
wealth but they can’t keep blaming society, the govt, the Hindus or other
communities. They have to stand up, shun
and condemn religious violence and seek greater education for their children.

Political victimhood: This,
says Dasgupta, stems from the feeling of loss of their might and nostalgic power
of having once ruled many parts of India. Unfortunately, this could well apply
to their leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi who issue threats from the parliament.

Belligerent victimhood: The
feeling among some Muslims that the “whole world is against us” and therefore
they have to fight every step of the way. The fight involves standing up and
fighting up for this victimhood for incidents related to any corner in the
world that offends Muslims. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq don’t indulge in violence
over incidents in Burma or Bangladesh. Indian Muslims should put the country
over religion to come out of this “belligerent victimhood”.

Of course, never forget that everytime this victimhood is passed of as genuine excuse for violence the media has a finger pointing at only one direction - Right Wing (Read Hindus). The 'Message approval' is pretty obvious - keep chanting right wing is evil, right wing is evil. So the rise of the Right Wing contributes to Muslim insecurity. Truth is, right wing has come up exactly for the opposite reason.

The
social media blockade will fail.

Let’s talk about the social media blockade. The Twitter accounts that
are being blocked and many others are only pointing out the failures of the
media and the govt in wrong identification of the problems of Muslims and
trying to solve those by appeasements and hand-outs. Tweet after tweet, blog
after blog keeps pointing out the same discrimination against Hindus and other
communities for the vote-bank of Muslims. Every act of violence by Muslims is
being either condoned or censored and that of others being magnified. This is
the conflict that has been raging between the Twitterati and the media celebs,
with their shows on TV and also provocative tweets on Twitter.

Where in the world did GOI suddenly find the wisdom and intelligence to
find some 16 odd Twitter accounts (out of 16 million in India) to consider
being a threat and fit to be blocked? I don’t think anybody has an iota of
doubt that the list has been compiled in association with some of the media
crooks. Block and destroy a few and send a clear message to others: “You are
being watched and will meet the same fate”. As long as the media plays out the “victimhood justifies violence” song
they will be at loggerheads with social media. Psychotic characters like Travis
Bickle and Mark Chapman were loners but if the media continues its discrimination
and biased behaviour they will create more mobs of psychotics and lunatics who
will indulge in more violence and play victims. They will be questioned. Their
turf is being threatened. And who would they blame? Clearly, the easiest ones
to hang are the ones who expose them – The Twitterati and the social media. The
GOI is already realising it won’t work. The media celebs too should learn to
deal with social media sensibly and not be at war with them. Social media will neither play victim nor
threaten violence. It’s here to stayand
the blockade will fail.

You write: "Only psychotics and retards claim texts, images and videos being sufficient to provoke violent acts..." and then go on to list a number of violent acts.

At first it seemed contradictory, then i realized that these were only excuses for violence. In fact, now that one thinks about it, the victimhood gets renewed in the Friday prayers by sermons from Taliban-type clerics. After that any excuse is good enough.

It's a shame the MSM feeds this dangerous victimhood by the cowardly act of kicking the guys who don't (usually) hit back - the Hindus. I have put "usually" in parentheses because sometimes they do hit back and all the repressed anger spills out in violence of the worst sort. Like the saying goes - beware the anger of a patient man. Remember, for example East Punjab 1947, Meerut 1987, post-Godhra Gujarat. And this gives yet another badge of victimhood to be proudly flaunted, and lovingly polished from time to time by the MSM.

The MSM is not covering itself with glory. Now I believe it doesn't even try. It used to be a great feeling of power to preach to, and sway public opinion with their big and little tricks. Those were wonderful years of the nineties through the early few years of this century. But the social media have reduced them to pathetic little figures prancing about on the idiot box. This is unforgivable. The latest spasms of Muslim violence has given them an excuse to get their back at the social media. The govt. too is using the same excuse to neuter social media, but for entirely different reasons: the desire to hang on to power. So for entirely different reasons the MSM and the corrupt govt. are in cahoots to skewer social media.

If, in the process, they are feeding the victimhood monster, so be it. India can like it or lump it; and Indians have long years of practice of lumping it.

What a Saturday morning read! Apart from this being a chronicle of some riots displaying clear media bias, the commentary accompanying each of them is pretty informative.Trust this government to botch up a simple thing like blocking 16 accounts and become a laughing stock across the world. Huffington Post had an article ridiculing this Amateurish attempt at Unacceptable act. Yes, picking 16 account from ~16 million in itself impractical, indicates that the message was something else Also, read tweets from Sardesai and Ghose after the announcement,endorsing and using that to hand out threats - it well backs up your conclusion. None talked and promoted #GOIBlocks as much as they did. As I tweeted yesterday, (Assuming for argument sake) - if Riots indeed were set off on Social Media, it will also be doused on Social Media - never gets on to the street. Social Media Campaigns are hurting only these New Manufacturing Celebrities. Rest my case Great piece yet again.

Nice article. India’s version of secularism and socialism has always been one that promotes and perpetuates group identity, making it impossible for individuals to rise above the group they are indoctrinated to represent since birth. The biggest inspiration for seeing individuals as not just individuals, but as some kind of building blocks of a larger unit (caste, religion, region, and sect) is the Indian constitution itself. We are merely witnessing the ramifications of the seeds that were sowed 60+ years ago. Without adequate course corrections and soul-searching, the desi version of identity politics is here to stay for the long run. We may as well get used to it.The media and intelligentsia till now have been the most steadfast allies of governments and political parties in perpetuating group identities, either because it suits their left-liberal worldview or doing so would keep their account figures from going red. Political parties have their own vested interest to maintain this façade of social/economic equality at the level of these socio-religious groups. Anyways, since the traditional information conduits and the old world order of opinion-shaping are being seriously challenged by the fast disseminating, self-normalizing, and an almost fickle online media, the traditionalists are naturally rattled. They are staging their last stand and throwing their full weight behind the censorship policy that is being implemented under such pseudo names as internet content regulation. This is actually a good thing because in the words of Thomas Jefferson, if the governments are feeling threatened by no less than ordinary citizens, it is a clear sign that democracy is prevailing.

Classic victim-hood: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-editorial-director-m-j-akbar-on-muslim-voters-losing-faith-in-manmohan-singh/1/214546.htmlPoints made by MJA; just think of their mindset:(1) Indian Muslims believe, with good reason, that it was their massive mobilisation in the 2004 General Elections that made Dr Manmohan Singh the most unexpected Prime Minister (2)Dr Singh sent a thank you note to Muslims soon enough. It was called the Sachar Commission. Justice Rajinder Sachar shocked the establishment with his honesty (3)The Sachar Commission's report was an exercise in depth as well as profound and discerning empathy with its subject (4)Education among Muslim girls, for instance, has multiplied at a geometrical pace. But the Congress Government which sired the Sachar Commission did nothing about its recommendations. Instead of job reservations, Muslims got the old and stale retinue of gimmicks. (5) When Congress continued to do nothing even after the substantial endorsement in 2009, Muslims began to slip away from the party(6)Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi wore his heart literally on his sleeve during visits to Muslim refugee camps when he chose to flaunt a Bodo scarf. Muslim reaction has also changed. Anger used to be diluted by fear, but fear has evaporated.(7)Desegregation divides communities with rivulets of suspicion. Instead of controlling this drift towards danger, the UPA Government has disappeared into its own tunnel of silence.

Comment posted on their site and pending approval. Posting here because of its relevance to the blog post

BEGIN

Dear Mr. Akbar,

Through this article, you are only reinforcing the long held belief that Muslim electorate almost always vote in bulk, or at least resort to tactical voting in regions where their numbers are not big enough to single-handedly change the fortunes of candidates. If Muslims are indeed besieged by this obsessive group mentality, the appeasement policies will be the natural political concomitant, which will be fully exploited by the so called secular parties to tap into this bulk-voting electorate. At the other end of the spectrum, there will be thrust to create and nurture an alternate bulk-voting electorate to counteract the former. Journalists such as you will be quick to pounce on such attempts and stigmatize them with banal words like communalism or Hindutva. Willing or unwillingly, you have become a partner in this vicious game of perpetuating perennial strife and tensions in our society.

The impunity with which you are claiming Muslims did not get the benefits and opportunities only emboldens the deep sense of victimhood that already prevails in the Muslim psyche, not very much different from the global Muslim psyche.

Now, the moot question is, does the blame squarely lie at the doorsteps of political parties and successive governments? They are only using Muslims as a means to an end and it will be in their long term and short term interest to keep Muslims where they are now. What about the ones that are getting used? What has the Muslim community done at its end to get out of the rut and step into the world of modernity? For e.g. 60+ years later, no move towards giving up their regressive Sharia laws, no major emphasis on girl education and women employment, so and so forth. What have journalists like yourself done to awaken the senses of Muslims in bringing about the much awaited and long overdue renaissance within the community?

As to the question of Sachar Committee, the committee was not mandated to do any field research; instead it just had to conduct ‘literature survey’, something that is never mentioned in the mainstream media adequately. It is quite obvious that the committee itself was established with the intention of furthering the cause of reservation for Muslims because apart from some generic observations about the cause of the ‘development deficit’ among Muslims, there are no explicit or detailed discussions of the cause of such conditions. The committee has also made some dangerous recommendations, if and when implemented would sow the seeds of another partition.

Excellent piece … I ‘m a regular reader of your blog and you are doing great job exposing crooks :P continue with your good work. I know following people through Twitter and blogs :- Dosabandit (@dosabandit),Twitanic (@anilkohli54), Sangh Parivar (@sanghpariwar), Sumeet (@sumeetcj), Panchajanya (@i_panchajanya), Barbarian Indian (@barbarindian) What’s common between them is all are unapologetic right-wing Hindu nationalists and they don’t mince their words while tweeting or blogging .. most of them have countered propaganda of secular media divas and exposed ruling establishment. Now the charge against them is they are spreading hatred , tweeting inflammatory content . I have closely followed all these profiles from past one year and find these charges absolutely absurd and baseless. In fact many of them have discouraged IHs using abusive language or spreading rumors. They are assertive but not dogmatic or abusive … I see no rational behind blocking these profiles . It is purely vendetta politics by GOI . My suspicion is that “secular” media divas might have helped DOT while preparing this list.My full support to all.

Great Piece Ravi. Thank you for your continued effort in exposing the " PAID MSM". What is happening in India today, is exact replica of conditions, actions and reactions of 1975. I can confidently predict our PM will go for proclaiming Emergency. Our ever obliging President will react in predictable way. However, the actions of SC will be worth watching.

Finally, we should not forget the great GoI servant, Rai who in course of his duty, has shaken the root of this government. Thanks Mr. Rai, they must have tried tooth and nail to buy you, but you have stood honest and just, and for mother India. We thank you.

hmm jus putting it out.. if you think blocking accounts because the govt thinks its bad or hateful is wrong, what about the protests and threat of violence against mf hussain?? he was accused of insulting hindu sentiments rite??

2008, 2009: around this time, I started constantly following all the shows and news given out by the so-called MSM. Boy !! for someone who was cut-off from the country affairs for a while (between 2004-2008, usual for an Engineering graduate who came out, trying to settle in career etc), I felt all of it so intellectual. But soon enough, I felt myself at odds with the opinions/news items/subjects/panelist of these shows. It took little time for me to realize that I was watching something slightly less than being called 'crap' !

I don't follow one news channel nowadays. I gain a broader perspective thanks to MSM+Twitter+Local Channels+Blogs like these.

Thanks a lot and kudos to all those in this community for setting things right.

anyone remember the vc shuklas ,the om mehtas ,the dev kant borooahs - the india is indira man ,the bansi lals - lackeys who were terrors during the indira gandhi emergency - all consigned to the dung heap of idian history . similarly all those who crawl today and support censorship of the net in any manner - the sardesais ,the cacophonixes , the divas , the wagles ,the ones desperately trying to be a rajiv shukla namely the sanjay jhas ,the suhel seths- all will and shall be consigned to the same dungheap of the erstwhile lackeys . it is written ...

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